Terrible things, called love and friendship
by Naraya-Marjana
Summary: Dom does something too stupid for words, with the best intentions. The story contains sexual and other kinds of violence. Don't read it if this upsets you. On the other hands, it all ends happily. Why? Because it should. Now also translated into Chinese by LuffyZ. The link to the translation is, or should be, on my profile.
1. Chapter 1

"I'll die before I go back."

Dom knew why he didn't want to go back to prison, why he kept on running. But when he finally stopped running, he had the worst timing imaginable. Because now not only Dom, but Brian as well was going to be put behind bars.

It was not what Dom had had in mind. He knew exactly where it would all lead to, but he could do nothing to prevent it.

The truth of the matter was that Brian was a pretty boy. And in prison, especially a maximum security prison, pretty boys got more attention than they deserved.

Dom was in physical pain whenever he thought about what was going to happen. He had been there once, and he had learned to deal with it, to protect himself. He was not sure he could protect Brian as well.

To see the kindness of those blue eyes die, to see the joy of his laughter extinguished – it was more than Dom thought he could bare. He had never before realized how much his friendship with Brian meant to him – how much it mattered that Brian was exactly and completely himself – effortless in action, natural in thought.

It was killing Dom to have to witness the course of events that would ultimately end with the destruction of the man who was family not in blood, but in bond.

Dom did not realize at the time that he was being guided and motivated by fear, not friendship. And fear has never been a true friend to anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

What happened was this. They came looking for victims, and Dom had to make a choice. Either he would watch Brian being raped, and possibly get raped himself, or he would do something to prevent it.

He was not thinking rationally. There probably was no sensible solution to it all.

In desperate times, great holes are cut into a man's soul. And by the love's strength, a man tries to sew the edges of the hole back together. Sometimes the stitches are uglier than the wound.

It is an imperfect world. It was outrageously imperfect on that wretched day when they came, hungry for delight, and desiring pain.

It was all about psychology, really. If you were seen doing it, it was naturally assumed it could not be done to you – at least not without a huge fight. The guards would break up such a fight, but it was none of their concern if the strong preyed on the weak.

The weak sometimes fought back, and died of internal bleeding as the result.

Dom knew all about that. He was afraid, and he acted without giving thought to Brian's readiness.

It was kindly meant. Still, it was not kind.

Dom took Brian, forcing himself on the younger man with only minimal warning beforehand. He kept the rhythm going, trying to ignore Brian's struggling to get away from him, trying to forget how the feeling of Brian's flesh wrapped around his cock sent shivers throughout his body. He tried, and failed. He tried to hold Brian close, and comfort him with hushed, pleading sounds.

He failed, having acted out of fear rather than friendship.

Later, Dom discovered he had an almost unlimited capacity for self-loathing. And he spiraled down the dark path of self-hatred unconditionally. That night when he watched Brian curl up and press his back against the wall, the awareness of what he had done pushed Dom to the edge of sanity.

Two things prevented him from going completely mad. First, he had done it to save not only himself, but also his friend. Second, he had taken no pleasure in the act. Not for a single second had he allowed himself to enjoy it.

It was a poor excuse for a justification, but true nonetheless.


	3. Chapter 3

It was three months after Brian and Dom had been released from prison, having spent there a minimum amount of time. How it had all happened, the false charges and the false pardon, Brian could not be bothered to figure out. He now remembered only one thing and one thing only.

Dom had explained, had tried to apologize. Brian had never seen him so devastated. Dom's words rang true, and his despair was genuine. He did not beg for Brian's forgiveness, not in so many words, but it was evident that the ending of their friendship was taking its toll on Dom. He wanted Brian back, no matter what he had to do to achieve it.

Well, Brian was having none of that. He had been raped by his best friend. There was no other way to put it.

He had severed all ties with the Toretto family, and was now officially going solo.

Brian was slightly put out because absolute independence – in the way of a lifestyle – did not suit him as well as he had hoped it would.

So when Mia got hold of him one day when she was shopping for groceries, and asked him to help her carry the bags, while unintentionally pointing out that Dom was out of town for the week, Brian could not think of a reason to refuse her.

He would not go inside the house, though. A compromise was eventually reached, causing Mia to leave the things she had bought lying on the kitchen table, and Brian to think of a place they could both go to in order to talk without being overheard, and have a cup of coffee that was actually palatable.

Afterwards, Brian did not remember their conversation well – the only words that stuck in his mind were these words of Mia's: "If I had to choose between a friend, trying to save my life, and a stranger, enjoying my pain, I'd pick the friend any day of the week, and be grateful".

It was not precisely how Brian saw it. He did not believe that Dominic was still a friend, and had always been a friend, but rather that he was and had been an enemy who had finally gotten the opportunity to show his true colors. It didn't make much sense, but that was what Brian thought.

The betrayal ran bone deep, and Brian was more miserable and lonely than he had ever been in his entire life. The physical pain of the forcible penetration was nothing compared to the pain in his mind, heart, and soul. Brian did not have the strength to think through the applications of the fact.

If Dom had been the enemy Brian believed him to be, he would have done everything in his power to make the experience as unpleasant as possible for Brian, and equally pleasing to himself.

If only that had been the case. What haunted Brian whenever he was too tired or too lonely to be angry, was the memory of Dom's arms around him. The touch had been yielding, warm, caring. Despite the brutality of the desecration, some aspect of the whole situation had been supremely… pure.

A flawless sacrilege in a very real sense. The thing was not meant to be, but now that it was in the world, something about it was making sure that nothing got lost. A sense of security, the feeling of trust, the want of a family – nothing was lost.

Somewhere, perhaps just around the corner, all of Brian's sunken treasures waited to take advantage of his kind heart, and come back into his life at the earliest opportunity.


	4. Chapter 4

The much-desired opportunity soon presented itself. Mia had a hand in it, of course, pointing Dom in Brian's direction, and nagging him until he promised her that he would try and talk to Brian again, against all the odds.

"I swear Dom, if you approach me behind my back again, I'll pull my gun on you. I mean it, Dom."

"All right, all right, keep your hair on. I'll yell from a distance, that should scare you quite enough."

"Dom, don't you try to make a joke out of it, because I'm not laughing."

"Who's laughing, buster? I missed you like hell, I'm not about to ruin everything."

"Yeah, you missed me? Which part?"

"Do we have to do this? Do you have to rub it in my face? I have to live with it, too, you know."

"Yeah? The last time I checked, you weren't the one getting raped!"

"Don't you dare pretend you're the only one who got hurt!"

"Yeah, how so?"

"I am not a pervert!"

_But I am sick._

"Prove it! Prove it to me that you didn't like it!"

"Prove it? All right, I'll prove it."

Something sharp and metallic in Dom's hand caught Brian's eye, and his mind jumped to conclusions.

"Oh hell, Dom, what did you do?"

"What do you think I did?"

"You didn't!"

_Not yet._

"You're right, I didn't. But I'm going to."

"You don't have to do that! You don't have to maim yourself –"

"Oh yeah? Give me one good reason why I would ever want to touch another person ever again. Give me one good reason why I would want to go on with my life while you destroyed everything that mattered!"

"I didn't destroy anything! You did that!"

"You left! I wanted you in my life, I wanted to keep you the way you were, big-mouth and laughing eyes and terrible sense of humor. I screwed up your life and mine! Tell my why I shouldn't do it!"

If this was the enemy talking… Dom just wasn't that good a liar when he was upset like this.

That was the truth.

Click, click, click. Inside Brian's head, everything fell into its rightful place.

"Because I didn't lose anything. I didn't. Dom, you kept it all for me, for the time when I was sane enough to take it back. I didn't see it before, but I do now."

"Listen to yourself. One moment you hate me, and the next moment you're apologizing. Do you even know how sick that sounds?"

"Dom, I didn't… I don't know what you were thinking. I'll probably never know. But whatever you did... I can't do this anymore. I can't hate you forever, Dom. I won't. I've already lost my share of things. Hell, I lost everything, but maybe you did, too. I'm sorry I didn't see that before. So there, I apologized. Properly. Will you now promise me something?"

"What?"

"Do. Not. Mutilate. Yourself. Are we clear on this? Because if we're not, I'm not above telling Mia and let her deal with it."

Relief was like a knife in Dom's chest. The sweetest feeling in the world.

"You play dirty, you know that?"

"That's a bit rich coming from you."

"I guess we're even, then. Are we even?"

_Please say we're even._

"Yeah, we're even. Just don't sneak up on me ever again. Okay?"

"Okay, I promise. Want a beer?"

"Is it Corona?"

A little while later.

"Dom, can I ask you something?"

"You're not going to get all touchy-feely on me, are you?"

_I won't mind if you are._

"No, nothing like that. I just want to know something."

"Okay."

"What were you thinking?! Didn't it cross your mind to talk to me about it, maybe before you attacked me?"

"I panicked, all right!? There wasn't enough time, and you being a cop and all – I couldn't think straight, so I panicked. I guess that makes me the biggest fool who's ever lived, but I didn't want to see you get hurt. More."

"You're not as big a fool as I am for letting you off the hook. I should have kicked your stupid ass."

"Like you could."

"Yeah, I could."

"Keep dreaming, Brian."

"Yeah, I will."

A thought occurred to Dom. After their release from jail, Brian hadn't even punched him. They had never gotten into a proper fight. Dom figured it was because Brian wouldn't touch him even if his life depended on it. He made a mental note to stay clear of Brian's body at all times.

Dom was grateful he would get a chance to keep that promise, and keep it he did throughout all the years that followed. Though it was never expressed in words, Brian seemed to know all about it, and was thankful for it.

Small favors. No friend could have asked for more.


End file.
